Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-04-17

creed or name, that will admit the pateI
nifty of the liquor traffic. When we cor
template the Sahara-like barrenness o
every bud, bloom end,fruit from this grea
army of people, and the vast capital the
control, it is really painful to the mind
The search through all nations and cOun
tries, and among all conditions OF sOciet,
and government, for enduring work an
monuments created and fostered by tn
liquor traffic is like Jobs search for WIS
dom. The man of patience sought to fin,
it, but in vain! HeAf. his report:
"But where shall wisdom be found
The depths saith, III is not in me- an
the sea saith, sit is not with me- destruc
ton and death say. we have heard tn
fame thereof with our ears seeing it i
hid from the eyes of al living and KEEP
close from the fowls Eof the air. MAJ
knoweth not the price thereof; neither il
it found in the land of the living"
But this greataforce has not been idle
it has been ike IshmaeI-its hand ha:
been against every man, and now eyery
mans hand Is against it. 1t has its evi
dences,of widespread devastation wher-
! ever:it has dragged its Shiny trail. In the
! United States it can boast of GOO, 00l
drunkGrtis who have ceased to be free
men and become the willing slaves Of
this demon. Ofthese 60, 900 annually dlea
| slavery. AFFECT poverty, dishOnOred and IN
fWept. Who can describe the ruined hopes,
kblasted fortunes, the poverty, orphanage
land desslatiOn that follows in the wake
OF this mighty host of enslaVed wretches
From the ranks of this great army, the
prisons, almshOuses, asylumS and graves
are annually filed. To maintain those
VINO seek temporary refuge in the com
mission Of crime and the prisons, it costs
the government annually about $780,
1000, 900, which, added to the sale of
Ihquor, aggregates about 81, 800, 200, 600
a tax on 60,000, 900 of people of about $25
per head, annually.
Let the broken arches of ruined fami-
lies, with blighted hopes and afflicted
bodies, speak through the gaping wounds
OF disgrace, humiliation and DEATH pro-
duCed by this brute of cast-irOn selfish
ness, and tell the sad story of woe and
misery.
You'll vlteme to come as your ally, "that
q serious common danger must be met"
| have called for Information. Your
record has been examined, aud my mind
hiss reached a conclusion, and ''my heart
Is fixed" TO join your ranks and battle
under your banner and for your cause
would do violence to all my former teach
ings, to every conviction and principle of
right, upon which the actions and aims OF
M life have been basel. I must trample
under foot al the lessons of virtue, truth,
love OF my neigh5Or and my country,
taught by my mother in childhood. |
must disregard and set at defiance all the
preCepts, examples and doctrines Of
Christ and his holy religion. 1t would
require me to make a league with crime,
and to recognize as my associates ard
partners some Of the Vilest characters
that at1liCt our race. | must help the
demon to strip my fellOW-man of his
property, his honor, his earthly hopes
and ambition. Nay, mOre-after Outrag-
ing his person and property, to push him
into an untimely grave, and thus be the
author Of widowhOod, Orphanage, wasted
fortunes, blasted hopes, helpless afllic-
lions and dishOnOred lives. | must do
still more to appease this vile monster.
must become his companion also AMI
Join his band of thieves and robbers,
who first seize all that a man has, then
ensiave him for lite. Your traffic can
to-day boast of 100000 drunk
ards, who are the ve1iest
slaves to this vice. Involuntary slavery
If the body is revolving, but how much
worse is that voluntary slavery which
SEXES body and soul, Wrings from them |
I'll that is good and dear in this life, and |
hen leaves them as a stranded wreck on |
he crumbling shores of death. l must |
stand ready and willing to corrupt the !
,allot, weaken patriotism, destroy love
If country, undermine civil liberty and |
overthrow the government l love so well.
Still more; | must be willing to murder
he very life of the nation; and finally, to
e good soldier in your rank, must
ecome the assassin of my own conscience
nd manhood. God help me from such a
ife!
l answer you, emphatically, no.
l recognize the fact that there are two
ides to every question which affects any
considerable number of people and their
rOperty. Those who oppose the amend
lent, present objections of such force
nd pLausibility as to require cOnsidera-
ION. Let US examine some of the obiec-
ions, that we may test their cOgency by
ne usual processes of reason.
l. The adoption Of prohibition will de- (
rive the state of the revenue derived {
rOm occupation tax on liquor dealers, :
he inevitable result of which will be to
lcrease the rate of taxation on the whole
ody of the people, to make up the de- {
cit. This suggestion is plausible, and {
calculated to deceive, more than any {
ther argument presented. | submit in {
nswer to this objection, that the amount
revenue derived from the tex on s
quOr dealers is less sum than the gov {
rnment pays for the arrest, trial, con
lotion and Imprisonment of offenders, /
nose crimes are the result of the liquor {
aff1c. If prohibition reduces the !
venues of the state, the consequent de t
.ease OF crime will reduce the expenses
the state in a greater ratio. While l I
ave not the statistical data upon which {
lis proposition is based, yet, l affirm its I
Gritty with confidence. If, in1cssting up {
leSe accounts, the balance is IN favor of 8
,Ohibition, the fact is a complete refuta- i
on of the arguments in that behalf. {
,. Prohibition is an invasion of personal i
oerty, and is sumptuary in it's tendency. e
liberty is popular word. Its utterance c
lallenges the attention OF The masses.
ossiblY, no word in the language is V
ore abused and less understood In L
Led, personal liberty has become catch 2
lrase, with which the politician conjures L
e thoughtless multitude. II it be criti-
lily analysed it loses much of its q
'ecious significance. l suspect there is 4
, such thing as personal liberty, in the il
riot sense of the term, in a free, repre- C
NATIVE government. Whatever liberty t
e citizen enjoys is vouchsafed to him by 9
e law. Civic rights in a free govern '
ent are relative, and not absolute. The n
yhts of Robinson Crusoe, in his island p